On the heels of previous reports calling for nursing homes to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic to improve compliance with infection prevention and control requirements and staffing in nursing homes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new report estimating that, “2,568 for-profit nursing homes nationwide (approximately one in four) may not have complied with Federal requirements pertaining to infection preventionists during our audit period,” resulting in potential health and safety risks for residents and staff of the homes.
APIC supports the report’s call for CMS to take the two steps recommended in the report:
- Follow up with specific nursing homes who may not be compliant with Federal requirements and ensure that they take corrective actions.
- Instruct state survey agencies to focus on whether nursing homes have designated an IP who has specialized training before taking the job.
However, APIC President Tania Bubb feels like this doesn’t go far enough. “With current laws that don’t require dedicated infection preventionists in nursing homes and don’t require routine surveillance of healthcare-associated infections, we are in the dark on what the overall rates of infection are in these facilities.”
Bubb emphasized the importance of having a dedicated IP, rather than a designated IP, at each nursing home. “Without someone dedicated to the job of infection prevention, the job remains ‘other duties as assigned’ for existing overburdened nursing home staff who are designated to do this job in addition to their other work.”
While APIC appreciates the focus on infection prevention and control in the report, they recommend the following actions:
- Require routine, transparent, HAI surveillance in nursing homes
- Require at least one-full time dedicated infection preventionists in a nursing home
- Provide more funds to nursing home surveyors and providing them with standardized training in infection prevention and control
- Ensure federally funded HAI training is by a certified, qualified IPC personnel
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